Spent 7 precious hours playing GW2 tonight.. and.. I.Want.More! I rolled a human Guardian and got to business. Only got to level 6 tonight.. because I just had to stop and see the sights. I'm very impressed as to how gorgeous and smooth this game runs on a top-of-the-line PC. It ran like butter. Not once tonight did I suffer a crash to desktop. And even with many toons on screen, I experienced no slowdown. Divinity Reach is such an uber-pretty city. I loved all its architectural details... and I'm not done exploring it. Where the game shines is in the details: The 'vistas' that you unlock as you explore the map, with their cinematic camera moves and music; the underwater combat, which is super-smooth and the best I've seen in any game; the quirky actions you sometimes have to undertake as mission objectives (water the corn stalks and watch them grow). They put some much finesse in the game and it truly shines.

What hurts is that I still don't have regular PC access.. so now I'm wracking my brain as to how am I gonna play this regularly. I must be playing this! Rolling more toons! Exploring! Doing PvP! Enjoying it all.

Yesterday early morning before going to work, I log in for about 2 hours. I'm hanging out in the Human area at the farm with all the cows. My keyboard is acting up, so I decide to clean it. Soon, from the caves to the north comes a group of bandits to raid the farm. I'm in no position to help really, and decide to just see what happens. About 2-3 minutes go by, and a group of players come running in from the east. I'd say around a dozen characters. I had my view looking out about eye level from an Asura. Just watching the fight as a bystander from basically eye-level (which I never really do) was the coolest thing. Magic was flying everywhere, blue lights from the Guardians, purple from the mesmers, and fire and lightning from the Elementalists. The two characters that clearly stood out from the dozen were a human mage in air attunement and a huge char mesmer wielding two longswords. I seriously just sat there like I was watching an action scene from a movie or something. I have never been into magic-type characters when I play these games (I prefer thief types) - but I can't tell you how awesome it was to watch that battle with all the effects going off.

After it was over, the dozen or so people kind of hung out for a few minutes, and then headed as one to a cave where they downed a big troll. I went back to cleaning my keyboard just amazed at how engrossing this game can be, and I did absolutely nothing but watch.

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LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

Well said. The developers have done a terrific job of pulling players together in a very fun, meaningful way, without any of the social baggage that usually comes with mmos. I've logged in just to check something quickly with a character, noticed that an event was happening nearby, ran over to help, and then another nearby event starts, and then an escort event from that event that leads to an undiscovered part of the map...all back to back. Hours just melt away while playing this game. And that's just pve.

GW2 actually does what so many games before have promised. Getting players together in a natural way, doing fun things, all seamlessly without the need for formal grouping. I've spent more time cooperatively working together with other players in my short time with GW2 than I did during my entire time playing WoW. The fundamental system of cooperation is built into everything in GW2. I was skeptical after hearing the developers manifesto, but they actually pulled it off.

I am actually a little surprised how well siege warfare works in this game out of the box. Other games took years to get it working or never quiet got there at all. The typical complaints that you heard in games like Warhammer are non-existent. There is no Player vs Gate if you're doing it the right way (using Rams). There are no prolonged fights on stairs to the keep lord. Siege weapons aren't just spells you cast, they are visible projectiles and appear physics based. I stood there drooling last night as I saw two trebuchets in action taking on Stonemist Castle. It was like watching Rome Total War. You could see the big flaming balls arc way up in the air and come down on the walls. Eventually the walls crumbled. That's the other thing, pretty much any point on a keep is destructible so you're not forced to go through the gate.

Concepts of supply actually work. Zerging a well defended keep is futile. Instead if you take out supply points around it, you can "starve" it out because eventually your siege weapons will outnumber the defenders and they can't repair. I think servers that are more co-ordinated at splitting their forces and taking multiple points are going to do much better than a server with a zerg mentality.

I've had no frame rate or lag issues. I've heard some complaints about this though so maybe they need to do a bit more optimization.

There are a few things I can complain about but really it's mostly nitpicking and not affecting my enjoyment of the game. I'm sure ArenaNet will be tweaking that stuff for a long time to come.

I think I'm ready to get into this finally! Saw my brother play a little last night and it looked awesome! Been trying to keep up with everyones reviews, but have missed some here and there... I'm going to attempt to buy it this week!

Jumped into WvW last night for the OO/Wanderers night and logged into their mumble server. There was only about 3 others in it for almost 2 hours. Teggy and I basically just shot the breeze while he was in PvP and I was in the queue. Eventually, I was able to get into the Ehmry Bay Borderlands with the rest of the OO/Wanderers...only to find that no one was really coordinating anything. I was fine with that as it was my first experience with PvP (or WvW as it were) in the game.

I soon ran across an alt for another OO member, Ariel something or other. We tried to join up on some keep assaults and some defense, but we were quickly overwhelmed and killed in short order.

Then I ran off to a keep assault and spent 15 minutes whacking a door with a dagger while waiting for someone to get a Ram or other siege weapon...which never happened.

Finally, I tried to just wander around and attack enemy stragglers...but eventually found myself in an annoying game of "avoid the wolf who spawns other wolves". That son of a b@#ch killed me once and almost got me a second time later that evening.

Now, I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but the fact of the matter is that I had a blast. They've really crafted a unique and exciting PvP game for GW2 that is amazing in both its depth AND its simplicity. I feel I've barely scratched the surface on this portion of the game (and to be truthful, I feel the same about the PvE game as well) and can't wait to try out more tonight.

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Warning: You will see my penis. -Brian

Just remember: once a user figures out gluten noting them they're allowed to make fun of you. - Ceekay speaking in tongues.

I guess no one on OO read my posts or triggercuts. We had a huge turnout (40+) and all of us were on QT3 raidcall server. We broke down a wall and took a major keep, it was a lot of fun. I even commented last night why there's so many Wanderers and QT3 but I don't see any OO.

I read the OO posts and saw your reply about blue borderlands (which I couldn't find when I went to the WvW window...although now it seems I should have been looking for Anvil Rock), but saw nothing about the QT3 server...at least no mention of it after your announcement of the event happening at 8pm eastern.

I didn't check here, though. It's an OO guild so I assumed all the info would be there as well.

It's no biggie though. I still had fun, like I said.

« Last Edit: September 05, 2012, 08:41:33 PM by hepcat »

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Warning: You will see my penis. -Brian

Just remember: once a user figures out gluten noting them they're allowed to make fun of you. - Ceekay speaking in tongues.

I read the OO posts and saw your reply about blue borderlands (which I couldn't find when I went to the WvW window...although now it seems I should have been looking for Anvil Rock), but saw nothing about the QT3 server...at least no mention of it after your announcement of the event happening at 8pm eastern.

I didn't check here, though. It's an OO guild so I assumed all the info would be there as well.

It's no biggie though. I still had fun, like I said.

Yeah I think there was some confusion. The Wanderers guild and OO guild are separate guilds but there are some people who are in both. Depending on which one you are representing, you might miss out on guild chat. For example, everyone in Wanderers guild chat was aware of the event because it was being talked about a lot there. Raidcall channels were mentioned in chat, I'm not sure if it was posted on the forums.

At least now that we've sort of figured out channels of communication, I can post RaidCall info ahead of time on OO for our next event (every Tuesday).

So I decided to investigate another race's newbie zone with my level 15 Sylvari Thief. I go over to check out the human zone, marvel at how great it is to have my level downscaled to fit the content, have a good time.

I'm pretty much just wandering around, exploring, doing quests that seem fun. Some events pop up, so I head over to join in. We're closing dark portals or something. Fun enough, good way to continue exploring the zone.

And then the event morphs into a gigantic boss battle with a 200 foot tall monstrosity with at least 50 of us fighting at once. It's a good long fight, people buffing each other even though we're all strangers, rezzing each other even though we're all strangers. The boss falls, we rejoice, and then a comically large treasure chest appears. I get to claim a half dozen pieces of nifty loot. All to myself. I don't have to worry about whether or not it's for my class, or bind on pickup, or DKP points. I just get to grab fun stuff with 50 other people around me also celebrating this impromptu Christmas morning. It was incredible.

There were just so many parts of that amazing couple hours of playing that would have been completely impossible in other MMOs I've played.

I travelled to another starter zone without having to make a time consuming and dangerous trek, without begging a high level player to teleport me, without paying some huge fee

I got to just set out and explore the new zone without repeatedly running back to town to empty my bags or turn in quests.

I was able to do all the low level quests I wanted without worrying about levels. Being level 15, the entire zone was appropriate to me. I even got loot appropriate for my current level while fighting at my scaled down level, which boggled my mind (in a good way).

I grouped up without having to group up. Mini events would show up, some of us would naturally band together, work together, split up. No looking for group wait, no worrying about our class assortment or levels

I participated in a small raid, basically. At level 15. Without having someone coordinate a time and place. Without the logistics of splitting 50 people into groups, getting people to do the right thing, dealing with having too many or too few people, or people going afk, or fighting over loot

As someone who didn't really read up on what GW2 was all about before diving in, this experience just blew me away. I had never seen any events of that scale during my time in the Sylvari zone, so I had no idea they were even possible.

I was really liking the game so far prior to all that, but last night's experienced pushed me over the top into gushing fanboy territory. This game really is exactly what I needed to renew my faith in the MMO genre.

P.S. How rare an occurrence is that boss fight? This was:

Spoiler for Hiden:

In the human starter zone, after closing a bunch of "dark portals" or something. A giant shadow monster guy appeared, and in the fight you all have to repeatedly close down new portals before he'll dip his head down in range for you to damage him. Don't recall his name.

There's an event like that in the Charr 15+ zone where the separatists under the guise of a peace envoy will deliver a large box to the front door of one of the Charr towns. It's pretty funny to watch the Trojan Horse scenario play out as the NPCs bicker back and forth. Eventually a f***ing huge giant pops out of the box and starts kicking the crap out of everything. I've been part of 3 successful fights against that guy, which were all fun (he has a mean instadeath stomp). It's basically a ranged fight for most people, with some very skilled players fighting in melee, timing their dodges perfectly...or not. The downside is that all 3 times he never dropped any loot. Hopefully they fix that since it's a good challenging fight.

I'm really enjoying my Sylvari Thief so far (~level 18 or so). I've settled in on dagger/dagger and shortbow for weapons: gives me things to bring to the table for soloing, small groups, large groups, and PvP.

As my primary alt character I knew I wanted to go with Mesmer. I thought a Charr Mesmer would be great. Load him up with a greatsword, make him as massive and scary looking as possible to make my clone army as intimidating and confusing as possible in PvP situations. Hopefully also make it more likely for PvP opponents to want to target my illusions instead of my teammates.

But it turns out Charr characters are completely unplayable for me. The storyline & NPC scenarios characters for Charr aren't really my style, but the real dealbreaker is movement. I know my Charr is moving the same speed as other characters. I know that it's just a mental trick that the higher camera makes it feel slower, and I know it's just a mental trick that the more spaced out footsteps make it feel slower. I still can't stand it. It's literally stress-inducing to watch my guy plod along.

Sorry Thul Thul, Charr Mesmer. You're going poof. Bye.

Hello Thul Midgard, Norn Mesmer. I'm liking your storyline and starter area more already. And you run faster.

I'm really enjoying my Sylvari Thief so far (~level 18 or so). I've settled in on dagger/dagger and shortbow for weapons: gives me things to bring to the table for soloing, small groups, large groups, and PvP.

I prefer sword/dagger because of the sword's ability to hit multiple targets with each strike. Also, I love the flanking skill for thievesl. When used right, you can evade a few attacks while getting your bonus for rear strikes.

I stopped using bows a while back. I should give them another go though for some variety. Pistols, while nice, don't seem to do enough damage when compared to my sword/dagger combo...but that may be more due to my equipment/skill.

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Warning: You will see my penis. -Brian

Just remember: once a user figures out gluten noting them they're allowed to make fun of you. - Ceekay speaking in tongues.

I really liked sword/dagger, too, but I just couldn't resist going backstabby with the daggers.

As for the shortbow, it's not my favorite thing but I'm warming up to it. After initially discarding the idea, the more I joined into group events, PVP, or boss battles the more I realized that the bow was usually my best way to have my thief contribute in those scenarios.

By the way, anyone experience a bunch of disconnects last night from around 6 to 8pm central time? It was pretty frustrating. I've had it happen a few times since launch, but never as bad as last night.

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Warning: You will see my penis. -Brian

Just remember: once a user figures out gluten noting them they're allowed to make fun of you. - Ceekay speaking in tongues.

I have to say I am really frustrated. Frustrated because I really love this game and honestly believe it stands to be one of the best games of ALL TIME, certainly the best MMO and possibly/eventually my all-time favorite game, finally displacing Diablo 2. But clearly it's a work in progress. What's truly frustrating is things like the constant queues for WvW, the problems with inventory/mail/trading post, people being unable to group together well through overflow servers, or people crashing and then being unable to get back to where they were, also some of the poor personal story balancing, the hacked accounts... in other words a lot of technical and balancing items that I really think should have been addressed or taken care of prior to release.

The thing is I know for a fact they tested for such a long time, it's hard to excuse the issues we're seeing. I suppose some things you could argue are due to just too many people (though I hate when a game's popularity is used as a technical excuse) but other things like balancing should have been addressed during testing. Certainly testers like myself mentioned when personal story content felt unbalanced, yet most of the exact problem areas I saw in alpha and beta propagated into release. I suspect ultimately the developers might have bit off more than they could chew, and certainly they have delivered an enormous amount of content in an incredibly "live" feeling world filled with nostalgic reverence for the original Guild Wars. They have really challenged the paradigm of traditional MMOs in nearly every way and deserve every bit of credit for that.

Still I can't help wonderiing if they could/should have postponed some of their ambitions and focused on making sure a few core select components (like WvW for instance) were 100% solid prior to release. Hopefully they get the tech issues sorted out soon, as it would be a shame to see such an incredible effort be marred by inability to get things fixed quickly.

I have to say I am really frustrated. Frustrated because I really love this game and honestly believe it stands to be one of the best games of ALL TIME, certainly the best MMO and possibly/eventually my all-time favorite game, finally displacing Diablo 2. But clearly it's a work in progress. What's truly frustrating is things like the constant queues for WvW, the problems with inventory/mail/trading post, people being unable to group together well through overflow servers, or people crashing and then being unable to get back to where they were, also some of the poor personal story balancing, the hacked accounts... in other words a lot of technical and balancing items that I really think should have been addressed or taken care of prior to release.

The thing is I know for a fact they tested for such a long time, it's hard to excuse the issues we're seeing. I suppose some things you could argue are due to just too many people (though I hate when a game's popularity is used as a technical excuse) but other things like balancing should have been addressed during testing. Certainly testers like myself mentioned when personal story content felt unbalanced, yet most of the exact problem areas I saw in alpha and beta propagated into release. I suspect ultimately the developers might have bit off more than they could chew, and certainly they have delivered an enormous amount of content in an incredibly "live" feeling world filled with nostalgic reverence for the original Guild Wars. They have really challenged the paradigm of traditional MMOs in nearly every way and deserve every bit of credit for that.

Still I can't help wonderiing if they could/should have postponed some of their ambitions and focused on making sure a few core select components (like WvW for instance) were 100% solid prior to release. Hopefully they get the tech issues sorted out soon, as it would be a shame to see such an incredible effort be marred by inability to get things fixed quickly.

I have to agree for the most part. I will say the trading post has been up and stable (the times I've been on) for quite a few days now so no issues there. The WvW has been pretty solid as well though it's clear they didn't expect the sheer magnitude of people when it was released. Even with the beta and stress tests I think they still planned on GW1 populations. Here is a short list of things I really would like to see added or fixed:

- Ability to inspect (and show what the item is in addition to the transmuted item). Definitely not critical or even necessary for now. Personally don't care but some ppl do so I'm adding it.- Ability to trade with other characters and mail to yourself. Nothing worse than finding an awesome weapon and going to mail it to your alt only to realize you can't. Especially since my shared bank is past full. And the no trade sucks...grouping with my wife I have to mail her potions and food and any good armor I pick up that she can use. Really?- More people in the WvW. It's painfully obvious that 400ish people per battle isn't good enough when there are 4-5+ hour queues.- Story balancing seems to be big for some...I haven't had issues but I only have one character past the 20s.- Underwater mobs need to be nerfed and hard. Not only do I have to put up with less than half of my normal dps (probably closer to 25%) but many underwater mobs are just as powerful as ground and evade like they're flying. A 47 ground mob goes down in about 10 secs for me. A 47 underwater mob takes 30+ and more than two usually means I'm running.- Mesmers in sPvP. I don't mind but they are frankly so dramatically better than any other class it's only time before the nerf bat swings hard. Sad considering how much of a buff they need in PvE.- Repair and travel costs go through the roof in the late 40s. Either cut them a lot of raise the heart rewards and sell costs a lot. It's ridiculous that my 45 green sells for 50 copper, my 45 heart quest gave me 1.5 silver but if I die twice I'm looking at a 5 silver repair bill and waypoints can be 75 copper and up. It's based on level but the money isn't increasing at the same rate in any way.- Little bug fixes. Minor but there are a lot. Concentrate on things that break other things (like zone completion, etc) first.- Pet scaling is going to be an issue at 80. AOEs are already instant death to most pets. I use my bear pet almost 100% now just so it doesn't die in three hits and that's at 47.- No real problems anymore with the overflow or grouping. Right click and join works, you can leave the queue and stay in your overflow and they increased pop limits a lot per server.

Overall I'd give it a 85 with the potential to hit a 95 with just a few tweaks and some time. I don't remember the last time I enjoyed a MMO as much. I've pretty much played every day since early release and plan to continue for a long while. This is truly the first no monthly fee MMO that deserves to be called an AAA title...and it honestly puts most of the others to shame.

Cool post, ritt. I'm well aware of it's flaws as well, and indeed there is a nice list of them at this point. Despite that, it is without question one of the best overall video-games I have ever played - period. With the inordinate amount of shit that is released to gamers on a weekly basis, to think ArenaNet could stuff so many amazing things into one game, and have it be this stellar, is mind-boggling.In every aspect that matters (to me) - Guild Wars 2 is magnificent.

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LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

I have noticed as well that the more I venture into higher levels ( my ranger is 42 ) I find more buggy quests and more graphical bugs in general. Theres definitely a balance issue regarding underwater combat. Maybe its just me but does the economy/cash flow seem really out of whack. Im having difficulties trying to amass a couple of gold. My crafting has been put on hold because I just dont have the money to invest in it. Considering the time that went into this games development, why do things seem so out of balance? I am enjoying the game in spite of its flaws but why didnt pre release testing catch some of the serious balance issues? Im sure there was input from testers, did they just ignore it?

Oh one last thing, screw whoever decided to make a game that has great exploration incentives only to put frikkin jump puzzles all over the place! GAWD I hate jump puzzles. Then once you get through all of the frustration, you get your reward, yay! More gear that doesnt work for my class! I know, Ill sell it for 35 copper!

It may seem like I hate GW2 but I dont. Now that Ive picked up a better idea of combat, I find it a lot of fun. Theres just some really frustrating things about the game that keep it from being what it could have been. Hopefully, they have plans to fix some of the balance issues, soon.